FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (September 2007)
Contact: Kelsey Johnson, Communications Specialist, 979-862-4990 or kelsey_johnson@tamu.edu
Drs. Stough and Sharp to Present on Disability and Disaster at AUCD Workshop on "The Prepared Community"
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS – Drs. Laura Stough and Amy Sharp of the Center on Disability and Development at Texas A&M University will present Sunday, Nov. 11 at the Association of University Centers on Disabilities 2007 Conference in Washington, DC. They will co-lead a workshop on disability and disaster called "The Prepared Community: A Train-the-Trainer Workshop to Develop the Capacity of Local Communities to Prepare for and Respond to Emergencies for People with Disabilities."
Other presenters include Dr. Anthony Cahill from the Center for Development and Disability at the University of New Mexico; Anne Pascarelli-Barraza, manager of the Bureau of Health Emergency Management for the New Mexico Department of Health; and Dave Shaad from the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities at the University of Wyoming.
This workshop will provide participants with the hands-on tools they need to engage leaders of the disability, emergency management and governmental communities to work together to prepare for future disasters. It is based on a three-part training and technical assistance program, "The Prepared Community" and will:
- assess the risks to which their communities are subject
- identify people with various types of disabilities in their communities
- develop inventories of disability-related resources that can assist people with disabilities in the event of an emergency
- identify and establish working relationships with state- and local-level emergency managers
- understand the emergency management response system in their communities
- develop integrated plans to assist people with disabilities in their communities
For more information, contact Dr. Amy Sharp, Coordinator for the Center on Disability and Development, 979-845-4612 or sharp@tamu.edu, or visit the AUCD web site at http://www.aucd.org/template/news.cfm?news_id=1489&id=17#emergprep.
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